Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 Summary
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Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 Summary This document is the University of Southampton’s (UoS) Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 (the Strategy). It was developed by the University in partnership with the University of Southampton Students’ Union (SUSU). It sets out our ambitious vision for a sustainable University and what we need to achieve to get there. Climate change and ecological destruction are the greatest challenges of our time. We have a Our vision responsibility to respond to these crises, and as a university we can play a unique role in doing so. Our vision is that by We need to rapidly reduce our negative environmental impact, while drawing on our world-leading 2030, sustainability research and education to help tackle the climate crisis. This Strategy has been developed rapidly will be a part of in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic because we want to take advantage of this opportunity everything the to change our behaviour and processes, and thereby build a better future. University of Southampton To deliver on our vision we have identified the following goals. does: our individual behaviours, how Goal 1 Achieve net zero emissions for Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 2030 we work together, Goal 2 Measure our total emissions footprint and set targets for Scope 3 emissions reductions and how we make Goal 3 Adopt a value-based approach to reduce emissions from business travel decisions for the future. This is key Goal 4 Ensure that sustainability is a part of every University education programme by 2025 to achieving our Goal 5 Make sustainability a cornerstone of UoS’ research and societal impact mission of changing the world for Goal 6 Implement a sustainable and ethical investment policy the better. Enablers of the Strategy Culture and behaviour. We cannot deliver this Strategy without the University’s people. We need Partnership working. We will deliver Strategy to harness commitment to sustainability across through partnership with the whole University the University, use networks and champions community, including gathering ideas and drawing to promote change, and encourage positive on expertise and resources from all. behaviour. We need commitment from leaders Leadership. Community engagement. We need to reinforce at all levels of the University to implement the our identity as a civic university and link our initiatives in the Strategy and model sustainable sustainability vision to that of the Southampton, behaviour. Winchester and wider regional community. We have developed a governance Governance. Communication. We need to effectively structure that ensures we hold ourselves demonstrate our commitment to sustainability accountable to deliver on our sustainability vision and our world-leading sustainability-related and supports implementation in different areas of teaching and research to the outside world. the University. University of Southampton Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 rint otp fo ns GOAL 03 GOAL 04 io ss Adopt a value- Ensure that i based approach to sustainability is part m e reduce emissions of every University r u from business education o GOAL 02 travel programme GOAL 05 e c Measure our total by 2025 Make sustainability u emissions footprint a cornerstone of d e and set targets for UoS’ research and r Scope 3 emissions societal impact o t reductions s l a o G GOAL 01 Strategy Goals GOAL 06 Achieve net zero Implement a emissions for Scope sustainable and 1 and Scope 2 by ethical investment 2030 What will we do? policy What Our civic engagement Partnership working How is the will we The University Strategy Leadership context? deliver it? Education Strategy Governance International strategy Community engagement Research and Communication Enterprise Strategy Culture and behaviour Estates Strategy About the Strategy The Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025 sets out our ambitious vision for a more sustainable University, and what we need to do to achieve this vision over the next five years. It contains six goals, each of which will be delivered by a set of initiatives with associated targets. This document also includes information on the ‘enablers’ of the Strategy and our high-level approach to implementation. This Strategy was developed in mid-2020 by the UoS in partnership with the SUSU. It builds on existing work to improve our sustainability and incorporates input from students, staff, and other members of the University community. This input was gathered through a rapid, comprehensive consultation process which involved workshops, interviews, and the opportunity – which is ongoing – to provide written feedback on a Green Paper . The details of the consultation process are provided in the Appendix. Why act? The global and local context Climate change and ecological decline are the greatest challenges of our time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that the global average surface temperature has already warmed by 0.87 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial times and will have warmed by 1.5 degrees by 2040 at the current rate of change.1 Rising temperatures have already led to higher sea levels, displacement of communities, and more frequent and intense severe weather events including wildfires, droughts, and floods. Biodiversity – the scale and variety of life on earth – is also declining at an unprecedented rate. A 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) showed that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.2 The 2016 Paris Agreement aims to address the climate crisis by keeping global temperature increases well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. It has 175 signatories, including the United Kingdom (UK). Under the 2008 Climate Change Act, the UK Government committed to an 80 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050, which was modified in 2019 to net zero emissions by 2050.3 Our local community has also committed to action. In 2019, the Southampton City Council declared a climate emergency and published its Green City Charter: a set of commitments through which the City Council and the wider city will become ‘cleaner, greener, healthier, and more sustainable’.4 In 2020, the City Council released the Green City Plan, which describes how it will deliver its environmental commitments, including reaching net zero emissions by 2030.5 In parallel, Winchester City Council has developed a Carbon Neutrality Action Plan (2020-2030) which focuses on reduction, elimination and offsetting carbon emissions to achieve net zero by 2030. We will work in partnership with both Cities and the wider region to deliver this Strategy. 1. IPCC, 2018, ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C’, accessed at: link. 2. IPBES, 2019,’Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’, accessed at: link. 3. UK Government, 27 June 2019, ‘UK becomes first major economy to pass net zero emissions law’, accessed at: link 4. Southampton City Council, 2019, ‘Green City Charter’, accessed at: link. 5. Southampton City Council, 2020, ‘Green City Plan 2030, accessed at: link Where are we now? to prevent our emissions from increasing during a period of significant growth, but we have not driven down our overall footprint. As of 2019, our emissions per student and staff FTE As a University, we want to support the actions of our had reduced by 17 per cent compared to 2005/06. However, community and provide an ambitious model for how other we had only reduced our overall Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 3 organisations can improve their sustainability. Last year we per cent, well short of our 20 per cent reduction target. committed to the Southampton City Council’s Green City Charter, pledging our support to the goal of achieving net Figure 1 | Southampton’s emissions for 2018/196 zero emissions by 2030. UoS currently chairs the Worldwide Universities Network’s Global Challenge group for Responding to Climate Change and is a member of the EAUC Climate Change Commission Council. We have had an Environmental Management System for several years, which is certified ISO 14001:2015 standard and rated ‘Platinum’ by EcoCampus. We were ranked 12th in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings in 2019 and are also a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Accord, which commits us to embed the United Nations’ (UN) SDGs into our education, research, leadership, operations, administration and engagement activities. The SDGs are the UN’s blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. We also have significant strengths in sustainability-related teaching and research. We are world-leading in areas including Engineering, Social Impact, Demography, Global Health and Kgs of CO2e % of total Scope 3: Wastewater treatment 270,001 0.81 Earth and Marine Sciences, and we have several existing Scope 3: Water supply 138,000 0.41 research centres and groups dedicated to sustainability Scope 3: Business travel by air 8,981,974* 26.94 (for example, the Energy and Climate Change Group, the Scope 3 total 9,389,975 28.16 Sustainable Energy Research Group, the NEXUS Science Scope 1 & 2: Steam and hot water 433,921 1.30 Strategic Research Group, the Clean Carbon research group Scope 1 & 2: Vehicles (diesel) 186,446 0.56 and the Future Towns Innovation Hub). Scope 1 & 2: Grid electricity 10,116,827 30.34 Scope 1 & 2: Natural gas 13,214,878 39.63 However, like all universities we face tough challenges in Scope 1 and 2 total 23,952,072 71.84 reducing our environmental impact. With over 22,000 Total 33,342,047 100 students and 5,000 staff, a large estate with on-campus * Our air travel data is currently only available in kgs of CO2, not kgs of CO2e. This means that is accommodation, and the laboratories and other facilities an underestimate of the contribution of air travel to Southampton’s total emissions footprint.